Just in time for the Royal Wedding - National Geographic takes you inside the palace gates for an unique and intimate look at the remaining monarchies and their relevance in the modern world. In the past, monarchs have rul... more &raquoed almost every culture, but recent history has not been kind to royalty. Democracy and revolution have stripped them of their power and scandals have given rise to debates about their futures. Go inside the palace gates for an intimate look into the lives of today's monarchies and their relevance in today's modern world. Can kings and queens survive the challenges of the 21st century or will this generation become the last royals?The Last Royals weaves together the stories of four royal families, the Queen of England: Queen Elizabeth, King of Nepal: King Gyanendra, King of Buganda: Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II and King of Tonga: Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. The film also includes interviews with King Gyanendra, King of Tonga: Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, Prince Michael of Greece, T.R. Reid, and others&laquo less

Movie Reviews

A Royal Pleasure

Jeffery Mingo | Homewood, IL USA | 11/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This documentary asks compelling questions: monarchies have shrunk to 29, do countries still need them? Will they continue beyond the next few decades? Prince William is mentioned here briefly. They just used his image on the cover because of his pulchritude.

"Family Feud" would ask for the top responses in a survey. However, this documentary did not focus on Sweden, Japan, Monaco, and the other famous monarchies of which many Americans would know. It speaks heavily of Queen Elizabeth, but then it moves to Uganda, Tonga, and Nepal. It is multiracial and it crosses continents. National Geographic looked at a cross-section of the world without being cheesy like that series Leonard Nimoy narrates. I did notice that the smaller the nation, the more likely monarchs themselves were willing to sit for interviews. The King of Greece sat for an interview yet they did not include a segment on his nation.

The narrator's voice sounded soooooo familiar. Then I found out it was Keith David from "Dead Presidents" and "Pitch Black" (not to be confused with David Keith, the actor with the chin dimple). I hope this work really opens doors for him and allows him to compete with fellow African-American thespian Morgan Freeman.

Perhaps the moral of this documentary is "Live and let live." If countries want to have royalty, then let them. However, it's repeated by the narrator and other Americans that they are happy not to have a family in that role. So much for Morrissey's saying "The Queen is dead.""